Resurrection City Church - St. Paul Minnesota

Why Church | How do we do church well?

We wrap up the Why Church series by asking how we do church well. The church is a part of Gods work in reconciling the world back to himself and there are things the church can do to help make that happen. Pastor Joel walks through five things that all churches are called to, but are also things we want to to be known for. Those things are Justice and service, Community and imitation of each other, Beauty and art, Proclamation, and Celebration. Join us as we break each of these down.

Why Church | Why do we GO to church?

The author of the book of Hebrews tells us the church is a gathering of the redeemed who enter Gods presence because Jesus has made a way. Specifically there are three "Let us" exhortations that constitute this author's vision to how we are to live as a community. The three Let us exhortations or lettuces are 1 Let us draw near to God, 2 Let us hold onto our hope, and 3 Let us challenge and encourage one another and not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. In this sermon Pastor Julie tells us why we should be in the habit of doing these 3 Lettuces together as a church each week and how we do it well

Why Church | What is the Church?

To grow is to stay at the beginning. What does this mean? That we must consistently draw our Christian life from the essentials of our faith. And one of the primary essentials to our faith is the church. But why is this? And what are the reasons we attend each week? This series aims to get us thinking about the answer to this question. In this sermon Pastor Joel kicks us off by walking us through the church is an embassy of reconciliation, the reconciliation between God and the world that is being enacted through Jesus. We are ambassadors of this message and the church is the place where the foreign soil of reconciliation manifests in our world. Reconciliation works itself out in the church in 3 ways: 1 Reconciliation back to God through creating counter habits of worship that point us back to the beginning of our faith, 2 Reconciliation to one another through true interconnectivity as opposed to false interconnectivity through by digital means, and 3 Reconciliation of all our thought under the Lordship of Christ a foreign idea to us that we learn through gathering as a church in many ways. We unpack these three ideas of reconciliation in this weeks message. Join us as we grow by returning to the beginning

Magnify | He Remembers His Promises

Every culture tells stories which point to the values struggles and ethics it holds. Naturally this happens with Christmas and the stories we tell ourselves both have overlap with and divergence from the true Christmas story told by Christians each year. In most other Christmas stories we are told we must have Christmas spirit or we will suffer some consequence. To start we look at A Christmas Carol and Elf. Often we come to view Christmas Spirit as a moral code we are supposed to follow that no one can enforce but ourselves consisting of kindness generosity and charity. Marys song roots us in an amazing story where God remembers his promises because she roots us in Israels story. This is a story about a people who are unkind, disingenuous, and uncharitable. Despite that, God remembers his promise to them and comes in the most vulnerable way imaginable. We must be able to respond in our own vulnerability to truly receive and understand the gift of Christmas. When we do we can then truly embody Christmas Spirit in the fullest sense.

Magnify | The Christmas Revolution

Mary's Song, The Magnificat is known as a revolutionary song. But what makes it so revolutionary? What made it get banned in some countries in history because it could cause trouble for those in power? Why does it cast down the mighty and lift high the lowly? In this sermon Pastor Julie walks through the powerful message of the song and what it says to both those who are mighty and those who are lowly.

Magnify | Finding Real Joy at Christmas

A young teenage girl is suddenly awakened by a messenger from God who tells her she will be of central importance in Gods plan to redeem the world. Her response: A fearless and revolutionary song. For Advent season we are going to look at Mary's Song long revered in Christian history for the way it magnifies the God who it refers to. Specifically, Pastor Julie digs into how it helps us to find true joy at Christmas instead of fake holiday spirit when we magnify God like Mary.

Daniel | The God Who Rules History

Daniel wraps up with a long vision of what will happen in the unfolding centuries and what God will do to vindicate his people. The big idea of the passage is that God rules history and it is all faithful to accomplish his purposes. Pastor Joel preaches on two bad ways and two good ways taken from the passage to respond to Gods rule of history. His rule works towards his purpose of entering into his own story as a child and as Daniels story culminates, we introduce the Advent season as we approach Christmas.

Daniel | Pulling Back the Curtain of the Spiritual World

Before Daniel can receive the final vision of the book, he learns that the angel delivering the vision has been detained by another spiritual being. This is a perplexing passage that deserves a full look at the realm of God and the sons of God. We learn about a parallel spiritual conflict to the one Daniel is revealing to us. As we study the topic of spiritual warfare we find out that the response from us is to go about our normal Christian rhythms. But we must not forget that those normal patterns are infused with greater meaning because they find resonance in the world we will explore in todays passage.

Daniel | Relationship 101

In Daniel 9 we find a disappointed and frustrated Daniel one who had an expectation of God that is currently unmet. Daniel reflects on his people's relationship with God and there are so many takeaways for us in this jewel of a passage. As Pastor Joel digs into it, we find great encouragement for our own relationship with God as we examine it in depth, learning how we can rest firm in it because God is part of it: He is all we need.

Daniel | Waiting Well

Daniel 8 details major conflict in the world that will unfold and affect Gods people. Despite parts of the vision that terrify Daniel into making him want to take a nap, we've all been there, Daniel. The big picture is that God is in control and we can rest firm in that. This is great news but it shouldn't be enough for us to just know that and then do nothing with it. Its important that we pause and think about how we live practically knowing God is in control of all that unfolds. Pastor Julie breaks down what that looks like in this sermon while also giving you a quick and entertaining description of the history described in the passage.